


An invitation to everyday life

by PyrophobicDragon



Category: Dragalia Lost (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Nothing else just pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:33:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21996814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PyrophobicDragon/pseuds/PyrophobicDragon
Summary: It's six o'clock in the morning. It's Lathna's first day of winter break.Soft family fluff.
Relationships: Curran/Heinwald (Dragalia Lost)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 49





	An invitation to everyday life

Curran woke up at six, just as he always does.

His back complained as he sat up, immediately stretching his arms high above his head, then forward to touch his toes. Even at his age, he was already beginning to feel the wears and tears of time taking their toll on his body. Though he kept himself in good shape, inquisitors tended to burn out early. Most of them were dead or retired by forty. 

But he’s been making a conscious effort to take good care of himself. To not take too many stupid, reckless risks. To think before he leaps, to swim before he sinks. He had too many people relying on him now.

And it was much easier with someone watching his back.

The blankets next to him were still warm to the touch. The pillows were propped up on top of one another. Though their occupant was long gone, Curran could set the scene in his mind’s eye: a curtain of long hair draping over his body as Heinwald reached for one of the three books on the bedside table, the way he would have leaned back against the headboard with a little sigh of contentment, settling in to read beside his sleeping partner.

Thinking about Heinwald, with his rabbit-running brain, choosing to read in bed next to him as he slept instead of immediately scurrying off to investigate whatever currently held his fancy made his insides warm, like gulping down a bowl of warm soup.

Speaking of warm soup, his stomach growled.

He rolled out of bed. And because Heinwald wasn’t here to debate him over moisture and bed bugs and laziness, he made the bed, smoothing down the sheets and tucking in the corners, straightening the pillowcases and fluffing the pillows. The air was cold as fuck against the bare skin of his chest and legs as he entered the walk-in closet.

He emerged a few minutes later wearing his simplest shirt and pants and the thick woolen socks his mother had sent him. After his morning prayer  _ (Dear Goddess Ilia, praised be your name, please watch over Lathna and Heinwald, have mercy on their not-all-that-human souls…) _ he padded downstairs.

There were no dishes in the sink or on the table. There was, however, a kettle of water set on the hearth near the fire. He filled a different pot with water and set it on the fire to boil, then puttered about the kitchen, spooning coffee beans into a grinder and slicing two pieces of bread off the half-eaten loaf in the breadbox.

The bread was set on the toaster. Shaped like a pyramid, but with a handle at the top instead of a point, the dish inside could be filled with hot coals, which would evenly radiate heat through the slits in the metal for hands-off toasting. It made Curran smile every time he used it. It was so emblematic of Heinwald’s laziness. And...it was pretty damn useful.

He let the bread toast as he fixed himself coffee. The coffee beans were fresh, and gave off a warm, sweet aroma as he ground them into powder. His old, half-empty bag of five-year-old coffee beans had mysteriously disappeared right after Heinwald had come home with a brand new bag. And while he had Thoughts about wasting money and perfectly fine coffee beans like that…

Yeah, the fresh coffee was way better.

The powder was dumped into a filter, then the hot water was poured right over. Around that time, he had to go flip the toast. He liked his toast to be a light golden color. Heinwald prefered his perfectly brown. Lathna liked bread.

By this time, the pot of water had reached a boil. Two eggs were given a rinse and plopped into the boiling water, and three minutes later he had two pieces of toast, two soft-boiled eggs, and hot coffee.

But as he was buttering his toast, he was interrupted by a quiet, “...Poppa?”   


He jumped so high that he banged his knee on the table. “F--”  _ Small child, small child-- _ “Fudge!”

Maniacal giggling started up as he turned around. Lathna was standing in the entrance to the kitchen, with her bear tucked under her arm and their two cats--his grey cat and her Ulthar--peeking in behind her. “Sorry if I scared you, poppa.”

“You gave me a goddess-dang heart attack, is what you did.” Curran got out of his chair, rubbing his knee and grumbling. “We gotta get you a bell. You’re all sneaky, like a cat. You and Heinwald both.”

Lathna only giggled again. Despite the early hour, she looked wide awake, so he asked, “What’re you doing up, kiddo?”

“I just woke up,” is her answer.

“Wish you could wake up just as easily during the school year,” he mock-grumbled. Lathna ignored his joke in favor of a much more pressing matter, asking,

“Poppa, can we have pancakes?”

“Sure. It’s--” he checked the clock-- “six thirty in the morning, it’s your first day of winter break, seems like the perfect time for some pancakes. Run on downstairs and fetch Heinwald.”

Lathna nodded, and with another happy giggle, she ran out the door as silently as she first appeared. Ulthar followed her, but the other cat padded into the kitchen, jumping up first onto the counter, then the windowsill, so he could supervise the proceedings.

By the time Lathna returned, this time with Heinwald in tow, Curran had already mixed up the pancake batter and was waiting on the first pancake.

As Lathna sat down at the table, carefully setting the plushie down on the chair next to her, Curran began forming lopsided stacks of pancakes upon two plates while Heinwald retrieved orange juice from the icebox for Lathna and poured himself a fresh cup of tea. Curran had been a little surprised at how willingly Heinwald sat down for actual meals now. He had made the mistake of mentioning it once to Heinwald, and ended up in an hour-long lecture about how mealtimes were good for family bonding and how modelling good relationships with food could help prevent future eating disorders.

_ Family bonding. _ Heinwald had really taken to the idea of helping Curran raise Lathna. No, of raising her together. The stack of magic grimoires next to his desk had slowly been replaced with books on parenting, he had completely reorganized his lab so all the dangerous shit was on higher shelves, he began rising at a somewhat reasonable hour so he could walk Lathna to school.

It was...sweet. 

It was everything he’d ever wanted.

***

Yesterday, he had gone to town to do some Dragonyule shopping. Picked some some presents, got some groceries and then casually entered the jeweler’s store.

The girl manning the counter was the same silver-haired Sylvan girl who had been there several weeks ago when he put in the order. She smiled shyly at him as he approached the counter.

He took a deep breath. “Hi there. I’m here to pick up the…”   
  
“Oh!” The shopgirl beamed. “Give me one moment, sir.”   


As the girl disappeared into the wooden doorframe behind her, Curran stared down at the neat little rows of jewelry underneath the glass-topped counter. His fingers tapped against the glass, beating out a staccato rhythm of anxiousness.

After an eternity that the clock claimed lasted no more than one minute, the shopgirl reappeared, bearing a small, round wooden box. She opened up the little metal latch and set it carefully on the counter in front of him. “Is it to your liking, sir?”

Inside the box was a champagne-colored cushion. Sitting on the champagne-colored cushion was a ring. Two thin bands of gold sandwiching a series of tiny black gems. Elegant and beautiful, like the man he was going to offer it to.

Involuntarily, his hand drifted up towards his mouth to press a fist against his trembling lips. It took him a few tries to speak without choking up. “It’s perfect, thanks.”

***

“Faa, can I have hot chocolate?”

Curran snapped out of his reverie. Lathna was looking enviously at his coffee and Heinwald’s hot tea. While he was recollecting, the two plates of pancakes had somehow ended up in front of his daughter and Heinwald, and he was now sitting at his own seat, with his own plate of soft-boiled eggs and toast in front of him.

“Hot chocolate for breakfast?” Heinwald paused in his quest to apply jam to every square inch of his top pancake to consider Lathna’s request. “Hmph. It’s seven in the morning, it’s the first day of winter break...it seems like the perfect time for some hot chocolate.”

“Thank you!” Lathna cheered. Heinwald chuckled at her enthusiasm, rising from his chair. Curran sat back and watched Heinwald move through the kitchen. His hair, slung back in its signature ponytail, swung in a shadow of his movements as he began to solemnly heat milk. He only moved when Heinwald’s attempt to locate the cocoa powder in the cupboard failed, standing up from his chair and pointing silently to the top shelf. Heinwald spotted it, let out a tiny  _ aha! _ of recognition, and glanced over his shoulder to give Curran his impish, beaming grin.

It’s seven o’clock in the morning. It’s Lathna’s first day of winter break.

Curran got down on one knee, his hand closing around the box in his pocket.

**Author's Note:**

> Random headcanon: Curran appreciates dogs and thinks they're pretty cute, but he wouldn't call himself a dog lover. He vastly prefers cats.
> 
> This was actually a gift for Durck, over on twitter, who asked for warm, everyday life. Title taken from a song; [this is my favorite cover,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8Js6K9eBlA) and if you're curious, [here are the (Korean) lyrics which translate pretty well in your translator of choice. ](https://genius.com/Shin-hae-chul-an-invitation-to-everyday-life-lyrics)


End file.
